On Semiotics

This week's 15 Minute Insight (the 4th and final in the series), on semiotics as a discipline and as the normative science of truth. But now, let us ask—since we’re talking about the study of the action of signs and this questions seems pretty important for that discussion—let us ask, what is a sign?  In …

Problems with Neuroreductionism

A short, fifteen minute audio recording on the problems with neuroreductive ("you are just your brain!") explanations of human experience.  I'll probably do more of these "fifteen minute insights" in the future.

Artificial Intelligence & Concept Formation

The text of this talk (given 19 March 2019 at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI) is now available here.  I'll be recording a video of myself presenting it (audio recording did not work out during the initial presentation) sometime in the near future as well.

Some notes on animal cognition

Aquinas—unlike some others of his time, before his time, and even after his time—did not always underestimate the potency of non-human animals’ estimative capacity by reducing it to “instinct”: that is, to an inborn, unchanging, “pre-programmed” routine of how to deal with environmental factors.  As we know now, in an endeavor accelerated by the investigative …

Thoughts on Being Human [3] – Signs of Our Times

What are the signs of our times?  That is: what signifies our here-and-now moment?  Screaming politicians?  Angry mobs?  Memes?  The ubiquity of networked technologies?  It is always hard to tell, from within a moment, what signifies the intelligibility of that moment; understanding precisely where we are requires spending time to find points of reference.  Every …